Lifted BMW Z4 Off-Road Build “Super Safari” on 33-Inch Tires
Being a follower of CGI artist Brad Brammer and a big off-road addict, I just couldn’t miss his BMW Z4 off-road build concept. Lifting a sports car is not a new trend. What commonly called a Safari-style build was inspired by the late 70s-early 80s off-road rally builds and typically refers to a lifted car on big wheels with lots of lights and body armor mounted on it.
But this render is a little bit more advanced. It depicts the humble Z4 sports car outfitted with pretty massive 33 inch tires and solid axles that you can see underneath. Obviously – this triggered my creativity and imagination to think what would you need to do in real life to achieve the same result. This may surprise you, but such things have been done before, let alone the fact we have already covered these builds on Offroadium, and there is a pretty straightforward recipe of building a similar vehicle from scratch. Read on as I do an estimate of what it would cost, and which donor chassis would actually make this math work!
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Key Details
| Modification | Details |
|---|---|
| Platform | BMW Z4 E89 (RWD unibody sports car) |
| Tires | 33″ mud-terrain |
| Wrap | Full military-style camouflage |
| Lighting | Blacked-out headlights & taillights |
| Aero | Carbon fiber front diffuser |
| Armor | Steel rock sliders + rear bumper bar |
| Recovery | Hood-mounted Hi-Lift jack + trunk-mounted MAXTRAX |
The Build
Let’s be honest about the starting point. The BMW Z4 E89 is a two-seat hard top roadster built to be an excellent lightweight sports car with the center of mass located closer to the rear wheels (to balance out the powerplant).
At it’s core, the Z4 is a unibody car with a fully independent strut-and-multilink suspension with the ground clearance measured in single-digit inches (it already says something about the complexity of lifting). Beside this, it doesn’t have any technical enhancements like the LSD to improve traction on the rough terrain (well, except for the electronic brake-based differential (eDiff), which is somewhat similar to a modern AWD crossover, but it only works on the rear axle, keeping the front untouched).
The M cars used a hydraulic rack borrowed from the E46 M3, which matters later when we talk about steering. In factory trim, this thing has essentially zero off-road capability, and it’s telling that it doesn’t even appear in our off-road capability database, as it simply isn’t that kind of a vehicle.
So why would you even lift a car like this at all? And the answer is as simple as the good old-fashioned fun and creativity expression. Besides, something like this, but on a very basic level, has already been done by Max Fischer. He has actually built a lifted safari Z4 M Coupe in his home garage and sold it on Bring a Trailer (you can read the full story in Hagerty’s profile of the car ).
Wheels & Tires
Everything about this poential build starts and ends with those 33-inch mud tires, so it’s important to acknowledge how big of a jump this is compared to the stock vehicle.
From the factory, a Z4 comes with roughly 25 inches tall tires (225/45R17 to be exact), so upsizing to a 33″ tire gives extra 8″ in the overal diameter, which is an absolutely insane number even by the 4×4 standards. In the render they’re neatly inserted into the whee wells, but in reality fitting them would require lots of cutting.
Budget Estimate
Estimated cost for the wheels and tires is around $1,450–3,300. Roughly $700-1,750 for a set of five 33″ mud tires (including a spare), $600–1,250 for five 17″ off-road wheels, plus $150–300 to mount and balance rubber this aggressive.
The Drivetrain – Why Stock RWD Won’t Cut It
There are few things that make 4x4s capable off the concrete roads: four driving wheels to distribute the momentum on all four corners, a low-range transfer case, and a locking differential or two (none of which the Z4 platform has or can realistically be installed).
Unibody vs. Body-on-Frame
To convert a Z4 into a four-wheel-drive vehicle you need to figure out the way on how to engage it’s front axle (which is a super advanced engineering challenge) or you can take the shortcut that involves bolting the Z4 body onto something that’s already a proper four-wheel drive body on frame vehicle!
The first option involves creating an entire new subframe and chassis structure underneath the unibody. It’s incredibly hard, but doable in the right hands, and the LS-swapped V8 Mini Cooper prerunner build we featured earlier is a live example to this. But that’s a truly hardcore engineering project rather than a fun DIY off-road build.
The relatively easier path (and the one I’d actually recommend) is the full body-on-frame swap, which involves mounting the Z4 on top of the 4×4 chassis as is (something you may have seen in Fast&Furious movies).
Even though it sounds even crazier, this route involves fewer customizations than the first one. This lifted Chevy Malibu mounted on a K5 Blazer chassis from one of our older features is the perfect example of that. That builder never had to figure out how to lift a car at all, he only had to cut and custom weld the key connection points for both vehicles to bring them together.
What Chassis Would Actually Work?
If a body-swap is the sane path, then the whole project comes down to a tape measure. You measure the Z4’s body, find a body-on-frame 4×4 with a wheelbase as close to it as possible, and the wheels end up sitting where the arches want them. The Z4 E89 has a 98.2-inch wheelbase which opens up a surprisingly tidy shortlist of 2-door body-on-frame shorty 4×4 donors.
The Best 4×4 Donor Chassis for an E89 Z4
| 4×4 Donor Vehicle | Wheelbase | Difference from E89 | The Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geo Tracker / Suzuki Sidekick (4-door) | 97.6 inches | -0.7 inches | The closest mathematical match. Minor control arm adjustments center the wheels perfectly. |
| Isuzu Amigo (2nd Gen, 1998-2000) | 96.9 inches | -1.4 inches | Extremely close, plus it features a wider track width than the Tracker, filling out the Z4 fenders better. |
| Mitsubishi Montero SWB (Gen 3) | 100.0 inches | +1.7 inches | The most robust option. Slightly long, but offers heavy-duty axles capable of actually turning 33s. |
| Chevy S-10 Blazer (2-door) | 100.5 inches | +2.2 inches | Requires mild wheel-well trimming, but the track width and abundant aftermarket support make it viable. |
| Jeep Wrangler TJ | 93.4 inches | -4.9 inches | Too short. The wheels won’t align with the Z4’s wheel arches without stretching the frame. |
The Fabrication Reality
Once you’ve found the perfect-length chassis – spacious garage with a lift and a plasma cutter will become your best friends. You’re cutting the Z4’s floor pans out, fabricating a full set of custom body mounts to marry the shell to the donor frame, and tubbing the wheel wells to swallow those 33s at full articulation.
Then there’s the steering: the Z4’s column has to be adapted to reach and drive a 4×4 steering box, which is its own bracket-and-U-joint puzzle. None of this is bolt-on. It’s weeks (realistically months) of measuring, cutting, welding, and re-measuring, and it’s the part of the build that separates a finished car from a garage full of half-mated parts.
Budget Estimate
Estimated cost for the chassis and fabrication is roughly $4,100–14,700+ in parts — a running donor 4×4 ($1,500–5,000), re-gearing for 33s ($400–900), the body-swap fabrication and custom mounts ($1,500–6,000+), wheel-well and firewall tubbing ($500–2,000), and steering-column adaptation ($200–800). If a shop handles the actual body-on-frame mating rather than you, that labor alone can add another $5,000–15,000+.
Recovery Gear – A Reality Check
The render mounts a Hi-Lift jack right on the hood, and it looks fantastic — but from a practical standpoint it’s the one detail I’d change first. The E89’s hood is lightweight aluminum, and a Hi-Lift is around 30 pounds of cast iron and steel. Bolt that to a thin aluminum panel and it’ll oil-can and warp on the very first hard trail bounce. A real builder would relocate it to a custom tubular front bumper or a cage mount where the load has somewhere solid to go.
The trunk-mounted MAXTRAX, on the other hand, are the genuinely smart part of the package. For a rig that’s rear-drive at heart, a set of traction boards is exactly the right honest recovery tool — they’ll float you out of sand, mud, or snow when there’s no locker to lean on. It’s a nice touch, even if it quietly confirms what the drivetrain section already told us.
Budget Estimate
Estimated cost for the recovery gear is around $160–450 — roughly $100–150 for a 48″ Hi-Lift jack and $60–300 for a pair of traction boards, from budget knockoffs up to genuine MAXTRAX MKIIs.
List of Modifications
Wheels & Tires
- 33″ mud-terrain tires
- 17″ off-road wheels
Exterior & Armor
- Full camouflage wrap
- Blacked-out headlights & taillights
- Carbon fiber front diffuser
- Rear bumper bar
- Steel rock sliders
Recovery Gear
- Hood-mounted Hi-Lift jack
- Trunk-mounted MAXTRAX traction boards
Conclusion
It’s safe to say that, based on the examples of heavily lifted off-road cars that we have featured on Offroadium before, Brad Brammer’s insane “Super Safari” Z4 render isn’t impossible to recreate in real life. The honest path to making it real isn’t lifting the Z4 as we commonly understand it (improving the suspension height and extending the driveline components), but rather mating its entire body to a solid-axle donor chassis, which already has all the necessary off-road technology such as low range, locking differentials, solid axles, etc.
Budget Estimate
All in, building something similar in your garage would require an investment of at least $7,500-8,000 in parts if you DIY the swap and climbing to $28,000-40,000+ with a donor and full custom fabrication if a shop handles it for you.
Find out more about this BMW Z4 render by visiting the Instagram profile of the artist: @bradbuilds!
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Related Parts & Mods
– Inspired by a lifted Z4 concept and want to give your own Z4 a taste of that off-road safari stance? Our team has put together a list of products for a simple, easy to DIY off-road build that doesn’t require hardcore modifications (though some customization may be required):
Lift Kits & Spacers
- DEALPAREX 1.2″ (30mm) Leveling Lift Kit (Z3/Z4 2002-2008) – A simple bolt-in leveling kit for the E85/E86 Z4 and the easy first step toward a little extra clearance and that raised stance.
- 15mm Front Strut & Rear Coil Spacer Lift Kit (Z4 G29) – Polyurethane strut and coil spacers for the newer G29 Z4, adding a subtle 15mm of lift front and rear.
- 30mm Rear Shock Mount Spacer Lift Kit (Z4 E89 2009-2016) – Rear shock-mount spacers to level out the E89 Z4 and help make room for slightly taller rubber.
Fender Flares
- 4PCS Universal Fender Flares (2″/50mm) – Universal 2″ flares to help cover the extra width once you start fitting wider, taller tires under the arches.
Tires
- Nitto Nomad Grappler 225/55R17 – An all-terrain in a car-friendly size — the realistic way to get rugged looks and light off-road grip on a lifted Z4 without a chassis swap.
*Always verify product compatibility for your specific vehicle with a seller before purchase. Specs and fitment may vary by model, year, and trim level. We are not responsible for fitment or other issues that may arise from using the products listed above.
